The 1854 Gazetteer of the United States by Thomas Baldwin shows:

CAPE GIRARDEAU, a county in the E. S. E. part of Missouri, bordering on the Mississippi river, has an area of 875 square miles. It is drained by the head streams of the Whitewater, an affluent of St. Francis river, and by Apple creek: the Mississippi forms its E. boundary, and separates it from Illinois. The surface is nearly level; the soil is rich, and extensively cultivated. Indian corn, wheat, oats, hay, tobacco, cattle, and swine are the staples. In 1850 this county produced 510,730 bushels of corn; 52,640 of wheat; 65,677 of oats, and 608 tons of hay. It contained 9 churches and 2 newspaper offices, 54 pupils attending public schools, and 160 attending academies or other schools. The county is plentifully supplied with good timber, including the cypress. It was settled in 1794 by French and Germans. Capital, Jackson. Population, 13,912, of whom 12,238 were free, and 1674, slaves.